Samsung Galaxy mini 2 review: Little by little

Whenever a Galaxy S phone thinks "Boy, it feels good at the top", there's always someone down below to say "You're welcome". Samsung most certainly know who to thank. It was smartphones like the Galaxy Ace and the Galaxy mini that made Android so much more accessible and helped the Koreans get where they are.

Samsung Galaxy mini 2 S6500 official photo

This year brings the sequels to the two immensely popular smartphones and things look promising. The Samsung Galaxy mini 2 ups the resolution, adds a bit of extra oomph and improves on the looks and that's already a solid foundation for a worthy successor. Here's what else it gets right and what it doesn't:

Key Features

• Quad-Band GSM and dual-band 3G support
• 7.2 Mbps HSDPA
• 3.27" 256K-color HVGA TFT touchscreen
• 800MHz Cortex-A5 processor, 512MB RAM
• Android OS v2.3 (Gingerbread) with TouchWiz v3.0 UI
• 4GB internal storage, hot-swappable MicroSD slot
• 3.15 MP fixed-focus camera with geotagging
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot
• NFC connectivity (in some markets)
• GPS receiver with A-GPS
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• 3.5mm audio jack
• Document editor
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• MicroUSB v2.0
• Stereo Bluetooth 3.0
• Swype text input

Main disadvantages

• Poor display quality
• Fixed-focus camera, no flash
• No secondary video-call camera
• Video recording maxes out at VGA @ 25fps
• Sub-par ARMv6 CPU limits performance and app selection

With the smartphone market still far from becoming a zero sum game, devices like the mini 2 are supposed to convert as many feature-phone and Symbian users as possible. Once they are in the right camp, it will be much easier to sell them a Galaxy S IV or even a Note 2.

A solid plan indeed, but there's a catch. While the Samsung Galaxy mini 2 price tag will probably help, there are potential turn-offs that need to be addressed. The mini 2 doesn't have to be perfect or have an upmarket feel. A solid smartphone experience is a must though and we're interested to see if the mini 2 delivers it.

Samsung Galaxy mini S6500 studio shots

Let's get going then. The unboxing and hardware inspection start right after the break.